


phantom dream

by ebonynightwriter



Series: Shallura Week 2018 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Dreams and Nightmares, Early-Season, F/M, One-Shot, Past Events, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Season/Series 07, Shallura Week 2018, soft talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 07:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16035719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonynightwriter/pseuds/ebonynightwriter
Summary: This is urgent — she can tell that much by the way Pidge looks at her. //“Something’s wrong with Shiro.”





	phantom dream

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** Something I thought about back when S6 first air — glad I finally got around to it!
> 
> -.-
> 
>  **[shallura week (2018) // day 4](http://ebonynightwriter.tumblr.com/tagged/mine:%20shallura%20week%202018)** · dream / memory
> 
> -.-

Her dreams and sleep are interrupted by a bright flash in the room. Groggy, she opens her eyes to see Kosmo and—

“Pidge?” she asks, lifting herself up from the pillow. The Green Paladin runs to her side, gripping her shoulder so tight it throws all Allura’s tiredness away. This is urgent — she can tell that much by the way Pidge looks at her.

“Something’s wrong with Shiro.”

With that, she leaves the bed.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

Kosmo warps them to Green within a tick. Pidge wastes no time, rushing through the low-lit cargo room to the place where Shiro slept. She holds her hand out to Allura, guiding her through the darkness, her body trembling with fear. Taking a place beside him opposite to Pidge, Allura kneels, peering through the low light to see Shiro’s face. He was tense, glistening with sweat.

Putting her hand across his forehead, she brushes his bang away.

“How long has he been like this?”

“I don’t know,” Pidge says. “I woke up and he was making all these noises.”

A single groan comes from Shiro as he moves on the mattress; legs kicking the sheets aside. He locks in place as his mouth parts with empty noise, his brow tightening in pain. Allura’s heart sinks with fear, and she pulls her hand away.

“What’s happening to him?” Pidge asks.

“I’m not sure,” Allura admits. “We’ll just have to stay—”

A cry rips from his throat, and Shiro’s arm shoots into the air, fingers bend and twisted. Already tense, Kosmo jumps in surprise and warps Pidge away. Allura leans into Shiro, holding his face in her hands. His eyes are open, the whites wide and shocked, but he doesn’t see her.

“Shiro, please!” she says, her hand moving to his chest. “Wake up!”

His hand goes to his head as the cry turns into a scream. Allura keeps her grip strong, face turned from the noise.

The struggling continues, so she does the first thing that comes to mind.

Shifting her hands on his head, she brings her fingers to the sides of his temple, holding him tight. She locks herself in place, takes a deep and long breath as light shines from her finger tips, pouring a small amount of her quintessence into him. The act lasts for only a moment, but she can feel him relaxing beneath her grip. His breathing returns to normal, his body settling back on the bed as his head sinks into the pillow. Allura’s hands press gently beside his face, her hair hanging over him.

She pulls herself back as he begins to breath in heaves, his eyes opening with a flicker of blinks. It takes him a second to get his bearings, and he looks lazily around the room...

“Allura?” he asks, spotting her. “What are you—”

“Pidge took me from the Blue Lion,” she replies, trying to hide the heaviness to her breath. “She was worried about you. You were... shouting in your sleep.”

Shiro turns his head to the ceiling, closing his eyes as he lets out a deep sigh. He stays there for a while, getting his mind up to speed.

“I think I was... dreaming,” he says, sitting up. His arm slack between his legs, his gaze moves across the messy, sweat-drenched sheets. “Or maybe it was a memory.”

“A memory?”

His hand wraps around his calf muscle.

“Yeah...” he says, rubbing the skin. “About the other me.”

She stills. Shiro sits in silence for a beat, staring out at nothing. His hand moves from his leg to his chest, and his fingers pull at the thin shirt around him, slowly closing into a fist.

His voice is soft.

“I think... when I was placed into this body, our minds became connected,” he says. “He’s not here with me, but I get glimpses and pieces sometimes... about when he was with you and the team. I remember... attacking all of you. Keith—”

The hand goes up to his face, the palm pressing into his eyes.

“I remember feeling _nothing_.”

She moves closer to him, placing her hand against the cool metal of his shoulder.

“That wasn’t you,” she says. “It was Haggar who tricked us, she—”

His teeth grind.

“He _thought_ he was me,” he says, his voice louder, more sure than before. “It wasn’t some trick. Right up until she took control — he really thought he was the real Shiro.”

Her hand slides away, and she can’t think of anymore to say. He sighs as his arm lowers to rest against his leg, air passing through his lungs.

Then, he lifts the arm, staring at his wrist.

“It's easy to think of him as evil,” he says, softly. “But I guess that's not really the case.”

Allura lowers her eyes, and they spend the next few moments in silence.


End file.
